Sunday, February 20, 2005

Harvey upset with Royals?

In today's Kansas City Star, Ken Harvey is quoted:

"I don't feel like I have the same admiration here this year from some people that I had in the past. As to why, I don't know. Who understands a lot of things the Royals do?"

I found several interesting items in this one quote. First, why would Harvey expect "admiration?" It's pretty well documented that he's really not a very good player. He can hit for average, but when you study the numbers, you can see that he's an average player with no power.

Harvey was the lone All-Star from the Royals in 2004, mainly because Sweeney was hurt and Harvey was leading the team in batting average at the time. But Harvey had an awful second half, ending the year .287/.338/.421. Expect Calvin Pickering to compete for Harvey's DH job this spring.

But more telling is the dig at the organization. This is just another example of Royals players complaining or making under-handed comments about the Royals. It's easy for fans to look at the records over the last 10 years and be upset with the organization. But time after time, players have had less-than-flattering things to say about the folks to pay sign their checks. Is this an organization in turmoil? Or, as we've been told, do they finally have things lined up the way they want to make a run at competitiveness?

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